‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Director Rumored to Take Over ‘The Avengers’

In recent news it has been rumored that director of The Avengers Joss Whedon will not return to do the third installment, and that the job will be taken over by James Gunn, director of the upcoming film Guardians of the Galaxy. Both movies are being distributed by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures. As of now, no negotiations with Gunn have been made, but he has been keeping busy promoting Guardians, which opens in theaters on Aug. 1, 2014.

When Marvel Studios began planning for The Avengers, the big question was brought up: who will be directing? Already the studio was aware that they were taking a big risk with the film. It would be a film where individual characters would come together in one adventure.

The marketing for it was built up by releasing solo films of each character, starting with Iron Man in 2008. In the end credits scene of Iron Man, Tony Stark/Iron Man, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., meets Nick Fury, the leader of government agency S.H.I.E.L.D., who tells Stark that he would like to put together a team of other superheroes and call them The Avengers.

Following Iron Man was The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. In each film, audiences got glimpses of what to expect in the plot for The Avengers. Around the time that Thor was being made, Marvel had chosen their director for the team up movie, filmmaker and screenwriter Joss Whedon.

Whedon, who was best known as the creator of television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, agreed to take the job with great enthusiasm. In addition to directing, he was also the co-writer of the script. Through his hard work and great collaboration with his cast, the long anticipated film finally hit theaters in 2012, and it became the number one movie that year.

Whedon and the cast will be working together again for the sequel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is set for release next year. In the meantime, anticipation is geared up for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy from director James Gunn, who as of now has not made any statements to the press about his rumored opportunity to take over The Avengers. This is the company’s first cinematic venture into making films about their lesser-known comic book characters. The goal is to get audiences into learning about who else has a part in what fans call the Marvel Universe.

The film takes moviegoers into the far reaches of outer space, where brash adventure lover Peter Quill gets himself in the middle of a bounty hunt when he steals an orb from Ronan, a powerful villain with plans that threaten the entire universe.

To help defeat Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits starting with Rocket, a wise-cracking, gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like human, the deadly, green-skinned lady Gamora and the rage-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the threat it poses to the galaxy, he must do his best to rally his troops for a last, desperate stand, with the galaxy’s fate at stake.

The first few trailers for the film have already been released and so far, the fan response has been highly positive. While the cast and Gunn have been busy doing press to promote the film, Marvel and Whedon have begun production on the next Avengers movie. As of now, Marvel has not made any statements about whether or not Whedon will return for the third installment. Though the Guardians of the Galaxy director is contracted to make another film for Marvel, no deals have been made consisting the rumored chance to take over of The Avengers.